


Unusual Magic

by mosteveryonesmad



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Multi, Pureblood Culture (Harry Potter), Pureblood Politics (Harry Potter), Pureblood Society (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:06:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24545872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mosteveryonesmad/pseuds/mosteveryonesmad
Summary: AU/Fix-it: What if Sirius had a wife?Arcturus Black had thought nothing else could surprise him. Sirius's pregnant wife showing up at his door with Harry Potter proved him wrong.
Relationships: Arcturus Black III/Melania Macmillan Black, Sirius Black/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 59
Kudos: 355





	1. Prologue

A woman was trying to access Ravenswood. A _muggle_ woman. How in the world did the muggle find it? How on this great goddess’s green earth did the woman pass the muggle repelling ward? It was no small comfort to think that Voldemort had perished several weeks ago as his wards clearly needed fixing.

“She’s pregnant,” Melania said, her mouth firming up in displeasure.

And bless his wife’s tender heart, he couldn’t question that. 

Muttering under his breath, Arcturus shrugged his outer robes on and apparated to the far edge of his wards. As he was still hidden from her view, he took a moment to look at her.

She was rather tall, for a woman, with obscenely long dark hair that was intricately braided in various places. She was, indeed, _very_ pregnant and bouncing a young toddler on her hip. The child was obscured from his purview, wrapped up tight in a blanket. 

She also had large, round brown eyes that were actually looking straight at him.

“I’m a rather unusual muggle, as Sirius would say,” she said blandly.

Arcturus gripped his wand tighter, and almost involuntary said, “You can see me?”

She frowned. “Just because I can see you through your wards doesn’t mean I can hear you.”

He raised his wand at her and stepped forward. “How the hell can you see me?” 

She shrugged. “I’m different.” Arcturus opened his mouth to protest but she loudly interrupted him, “And—” She stared pointedly at him, “I’m currently having contractions to give birth to _your_ heir’s _heir_.”

Arcturus’s mouth dropped.

“So I would appreciate some assistance.” She hitched the toddler higher and added, “Also, you should lock down the wards behind me because I did technically kidnap Harry Potter from his abusive relatives so…”


	2. Fate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sofia follows her instincts. And, probably, Fate.

Most days, Sofia would say she had a gift. A beautiful, wild, chaotic gift that lets her see the world differently than most people. She saw the world as it was, as it is, and as it could be. She couldn’t remember a time when she didn’t see the world this way—the beautiful conglomeration of past, present, and future—and she loved it. Most of the time.

Some days—and especially nowadays—it was frightening. 

She had been in London for a few days before she saw the not so hidden, hidden magical communities. It wasn’t often she crossed paths with the wix. She had learned from her travels in various parts of the Americas that some magical cultures were more accepting of the mundane, such as Peru and New Zealand, and others were not, like the United States and the United Kingdom. She had sought out the London magical enclaves to ensure she wouldn’t give herself away or unnecessarily come into contact with any wix. 

But the moment she set eyes on the Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley, as it had been, as it was and as it would be, in a magical pocket dimension…she had seen herself there again…and again…and again. 

Sofia frowned. 

Not at seeing herself in the future, that was such a normal occurrence she never thought too much about it. The future was so mutable, so inconstant that prediction was nearly impossible. The future was a combination and culmination of the actions of every individual everywhere. Honestly, not even a computer could process all that information fast enough to “predict” the future. 

No, it was the fact that she was in a magical area in which she knew would be unwelcoming towards her…and… was she fighting?

She tilted her head as if that would get her a different angle, a different perspective on the future. This was not how her sight worked but it didn’t stop the habit. 

She looked at the various mutable futures before her. Some versions of herself were young, closely resembling herself now at the age of twenty. Other versions were older. Sometimes she was with a young boy with bright green eyes. Sometimes she was with a young girl with wild, black hair similar yet dissimilar to her own. 

There was a man with her in many of these futures. Black hair, light eyes—grey eyes? Were they grey? He was too far away to be sure. He was handsome. They looked to be in a relationship. 

“Huh.” 

She wasn’t expecting that. A relationship with an English wix—well, presumably an English wix.It wasn’t like she hasn’t seen herself in a relationship with someone she’s never met with before but she’s heard a lot about the magical community in the British Isles. They were isolationists, small-minded, and fighting a vicious civil war against an anti-mundane terrorist known as Lord Voldemort. And losing. 

Any wix who knew she was here had urged her to quickly leave. This was no place for a mundane, or muggle as she was known here. But she felt the urge to be here. And she always followed her urges. She couldn’t say they never led her astray—a particularly sticky situation in the West Indies comes to mind—but she trusted her instincts. It was the driving force throughout much of her life. 

But it wasn’t exactly like she had a sit-down conversation with her instincts. They said London. But they didn’t say why. 

She pursed her lips and, on instinct, stepped closer.

She was yanked back, hard, as a car horn blared through the air. 

“Gods that’s embarrassing,” she muttered, before turning to look at her savior. 

The world came into focus. And she experienced, for the first time in her memory, _stillness._ Or, more accurately, just the present moment, before _her_ _normal_ returned.

“Cor! Do you have a death wish?” 

He was indeed English. And his eyes were grey. His curly black hair brushed his leather-clad shoulders. He was wearing mundane clothing but she could see his swirling magic around him. And her instincts settled warm and smug in her heart. 

“I didn’t expect to meet you so soon.” She smiled widely, enjoying the bit of fate that still kept this world a mystery to her.

He stepped away from her immediately, his eyes hardening with suspicion, and his hand automatically clenching around an invisible bit of wood. She pouted. 

“How do you know who I am?” He growled. 

“I don't,” she shrugged and stuck out her hand to shake, “I’m Sofia Aetos.”

He glanced warily at her hand but the grip of his own hand never loosened from his wand. “Then how did you expect to meet me?”

“It’s a long story,” she smiled, “One I’m willing to share over drinks. Preferably somewhere mundane. I’ve been told not to trust the British magical community.” 

He jerked back, surprised and confused. “Mundane?” 

“Oh, right. Uh, muggle, I guess is what the British wix say.” 

He frowned, before leaning closer, and in a whisper said, “But you are a muggle.” 

She grinned wider and leaned into him. “Sort of.” 

///

Harry gripped Sofia tighter when she attempted to put him down. She didn’t blame him. He had been in the cupboard under the stairs in soiled diapers when she retrieved him. She figured she was the first friendly face he had seen in weeks. So she scooped him up immediately and walk right out the front door of Privet Drive without ever seeing Petunia, as she had planned. It was the first time, in a very long time, that she was actively using her gifts to _plan_. But Fate had demanded it. Or her instincts. Or both, maybe. And she followed the guidance of both, probably, every step of her journey to Ravenswood. To the petrol station with the absent-minded attendant that handed her a bathroom key without a second glance so she could clean Harry up. To the bus that put her in the opposite direction of where she thought Ravenswood was. To the trail through the woods until she was there, at the edge of flimsy wards, where she saw the Ravenswood of the past, present, and future. 

She keened softly, another contraction hitting her. 

“Harry, dear,” she murmured softly, “Grandpa Arcturus is going to take care of you. He has magic, just like your mum and dad and Uncle Padfoot.” 

He shook his head in her neck and gripped her tighter. “Theia stay.” 

Her eyes pricked with tears but she blinked them away before turning to Arcturus and Melania. It was the first time she had met them, but she could see—in the past and future—that they could be trusted. It was a relief. Because Harry wasn’t letting go and Leo wanted to join the world tonight. 

“I thought you said your name was Sofia?” Arcturus’s hand gripped his wand again. 

She smirked—Sirius was just like his grandfather. “Theia is aunt in Greek.” She shifted somewhat uncomfortably on the couch. “Can you call Andromeda here? She’s been my healer throughout the pregnancy.” 

Arcturus frowned, looked to his wife who nodded sharply, and got up with a sigh. She suppressed a smile—he was just like Sirius. 

Melania turned back to her, a gimlet look in her eyes. “Are you a squib then? I never heard of squibs seeing magic and wards as you do though.”

She shook her head. “I don’t actually know but I don’t know anyone who can see like me, magical, squib, or mundane.” 

“See like you?” She whispered. 

Before she could say another word, the floo roared to life and Andromeda stepped out, a furious glare on her face and her wand out. 

“You!” She shrieked, her wand pointed directly at Sofia’s head. “How dare you? How—you— Why do you have Harry? Sirius betrayed us. You probably helped him with your freaky little sight—”

Sofia held up a hand, stopping the tirade. She forgot, again, that she still had to explain it all. She was already in the next present moment when she needed to deal with this present moment. 

“Sirius was not the secret-keeper. James wouldn’t let him risk his life like that with me being pregnant. Peter was the secret-keeper and he betrayed the Potters, not Sirius.” Andromeda scoffed but Sofia rolled on. “I found Harry at his Aunt Petunia’s house, Lily’s sister—”

“But Lily never…” 

“The will hasn’t been read or else it would clearly have given so many others custody before her sister.” She paused. “Or at least I think the will hasn’t been read yet…” She pursed her lips, trying to remember the various futures she saw when James and Lily were writing the will in her and Sirius’s apartment. She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is Sirius is in prison when he shouldn’t be. Harry is safe here. And I’m about to give birth!” She shrieked at the end because another contraction rolled over her. “Mary, mother, and God this fucking hurts!”

Her shout and curse seemed to spur Andromeda into action because instead of cursing her, she waved her wand in various motions that Sofia recalled from every check-up she had with her. 

“You should go to St. Mungo’s,” Andromeda said. “Or a muggle hospital at least.”

“NO!” Sofia gripped the side of the couch. “Here, Harry and I have to stay here. Dumbledore is hunting us.” 

“Dumbledore!” Andromeda and Melania shouted in surprise but Arcturus just glowered.

“May all the gods damn that man,” he grumbled before standing up, “I’m calling the dwarrow now to fix the wards.” 

“Jinx!” Melania called.

A house-elf appeared at her side, wringing her hands and glancing worriedly at Sofia. “Yes, Mistress?”

“Please prepare the Heir Suites. And…and whatever else Andromeda might need.” Andromeda rattled off everything she needed before Jinx popped away.

“Come on now,” Andromeda helped lift Sofia up, “I don’t know if I believe you but…”

“You know Sirius would rather cut off his arm than betray James. They were brothers.”

Andromeda sighed. “You’re right. You…it’s just…”

Sofia shrugged, lifting Harry higher, as they walked towards the Heir Suite. “You don’t trust me. I get it.” It didn’t bother her. She saw that Andromeda would trust her again.

Andromeda flushed in embarrassment. “With the war, and you showing up with your sight, and everything going on, well…it was hard to trust anyone.” 

Sofia frowned before grunting her way through another contraction. She really needed to put Harry down but she really couldn’t abandon the boy in even that small way. “I don’t care if you don’t trust me. But trust Sirius.” 

Andromeda shifted so she could help carry most of Sofia’s weight and Sofia groaned in relief. They slowly made it to Heir Suite in halting movements. As Andromeda laid Sofia on the bed and as Harry curled next to her, she sighed. 

“I don’t need to trust you to do my job,” Andromeda said. 

Several hours later, after the dwarrow came, after Harry was magically cleaned up and had mercifully fallen asleep, after Arcturus smugly noted that Dumbledore did indeed come to Ravenswood but was blocked from entering by the wards and how Arcturus denied ever seeing Harry but swore he would raise this issue with the Wizengamot next week just to see the floundering expression on Dumbledore’s face, after all that and more, Leo Regulus Black entered the world. 

Everyone had frowned at that middle name, knowing the history between the two Black brothers, but Sofia snuggled her boy to her chest. Regulus would be redeemed soon, she knew, and Sirius would be sad and pleased and guilty and relieved with the choice. 

It had been a hellish year or so, and she knew she had more work to do, but surrounded by her two boys, her instincts hummed in delight. The world was starting to get on the right path.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. Let me start by saying this story is 100% a pantser AKA I'm flying by the seat of pants and there are zero plans. It's half creative exercise and half pure joy fic. Also, I replaced the goblins with dwarves aka dwarrow (I've been reading a lot of Hobbit fanfics).
> 
> The Black Book 2 is a plotter-I got everything laid out but so far no creative force to write it. Very frustrating.
> 
> I'm hoping that this prompt that turned into a wild prologue that is turning into a true pantser story will inspire me to write TBB2.
> 
> Either way, enjoy :)


	3. Fate's A Bitch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fate has plans.

There was an emergency session for the Wizengamot the next day. When Arcturus told Sofia, she frowned at him, furrowing her brows and focused her large eyes on him. After a few tense moments of silence, she said, “Bring the dwarrow. And ask for the transcripts from Sirius’s trial.”

Arcturus frowned. He had asked for those before, for peace of mind, for proof of Sirius’s betrayal, but had been told they were sealed as an ongoing criminal investigation into other war criminals. But that had been a few weeks ago… He nodded sharply. His granddaughter-in-law was odd, obviously, but… Well, he hadn’t believed it until he saw his own family tapestry, but she had a magical bond to Sirius. A full magical marriage, done the old ways. With blood and everything. As deep a marriage bond as he had with his wife. _With a muggle._ He shook his head. It defied all sense but he had double then tripled checked the runes—there was no mistake. She couldn’t betray Sirius anymore than he could betray his wife. And at the moment, Sirius was in Azkaban so if they were even plotting against him, she was powerless. It hurt nothing and no one to get a hold of Sirius’s trial transcripts. 

He apparated to Diagon Alley first and strode to Gringotts. The minute he entered the door he was swept away to a meeting room. He could feel the curious eyes of other patrons but studiously ignored them. He hadn’t warned his account manager or the Potter account manager of his business but he assumed they were heading to their private offices.

He assumed wrong.

The door he was led to was not the door to Thaldrel, the Black account manager, or Farrin, the Potter account manager. But to Ragnok, the Chieftain of the Horde, where his _wife,_ High Priestess Azalea _,_ was seated behind the desk. 

“Chieftain Ragnok,” Arcturus placed his closed right fist over his heart in the customary greeting, “I am honored yet surprised for your presence. As well as your lady wife, whom I’ve never had the privilege to meet.” Arcturus turned to the High Priestess and bowed his head. “High Priestess Azalea.” 

The High Priestess was eyeing him critically. “You have…unusual magic in your magical aura. I sensed it as soon as you apparated to Diagon.” 

Bloody hell. Arcturus frowned, his eyes going skyward in prayer to Lady Hecate that Sirius’s strange muggle wife would not be the death of him. Not that he was afraid of what the dwarrow would do. He knew them well enough—and there were plenty of treaties between them—that granted at least a warning before beheading. He didn’t think it was that kind of meeting though. 

He gestured to a chair. “May I sit?”

Ragnok glanced at his wife before answering. “Please.” 

The High Priestess narrowed her eyes. “Do you have any idea of what I’m talking about?”

Arcturus smiled carefully. “Perhaps. And may, indeed, be willing to share the details.” His gaze traveled from the High Priestess to Ragnok. “But, you may have heard, there is an emergency session of the Wizengamot starting in an hour. I need to be there.”

Ragnok snorted. “I may have heard that Harry Potter was kidnapped.”

“Or I may have seen that he was not,” the High Priestess added, a knowing glint in her eyes. 

Goddess save him from the psychics. 

“I’m a bit more concerned that my grandson may be innocent.”

The High Priestess smirked. “Strange. I would think you’d be more concerned that he never had a chance to prove his innocence.”

Arcturus, ever mindful of his company, did his best to control the flare of anger, indignation, and frustration within his aura. He felt the room chill as his furious aura pulsated. 

“Excuse me,” he muttered tightly, “but you have me at the disadvantage of not properly understanding you. May you elaborate?”

The High Priestess grinned widely. “It seems we both are in need of some information.” 

Arcturus nodded stiffly. 

A dwarf, standing guard in the back of the room, came forward at the slight tilt in the High Priestess’s hand. He passed her a slim folder.

“At the news of Harry Potter’s _unfortunate_ kidnapping, I took the liberty to reach out to his magical guardian…only to find he had none.” She flashed a sinister grin. “It seems that the Headmaster of Hogwarts _attempted_ to take the position but could not, as Harry Potter already _had_ a magical guardian. Nearly since his birth in fact. Practically a third magical parent, with vows observed by the Horde and everything.”

“Who?” Arcturus whispered, knowing, oh, already knowing the answer.

She grinned widely. “Why, Sirius Black of course!” 

Arcturus, considering himself a Black wix before an Englishman, cried. Soft, small tears of relief. He took a deep, steadying breath, before realizing that his strange granddaughter-in-law must have seen this. Must have known the exchange of information he was going to be asked to make. He took another breath.

“Yesterday evening, a _muggle_ nearly walked through my wards.” He glanced to Ragnok, noting his shock, but settling his gaze on the High Priestess. “She’s Sirius’s wife. They have a full, magical bond. It’s on our tapestry.”

“That cannot be,” the High Priestess whispered. 

“She’s not a muggle then!” Ragnok yelled. 

Arcturus shrugged. “She says she is. She has no magical aura. A wand is but a stick in her hands but…” 

“What? What is it?” Ragnok growled, unbelieving still of this news.

“She has the Sight. She told me to come here, to seek out your help, and…” Arcturus gestured to the folder on the desk. “She was right.”

“Oh blessed be,” High Priestess Azalea whispered. Her hands went palm up the sky and she repeated her soft prayer, “Oh blessed be.” 

Arcturus narrowed his gaze on her. What did she know about his granddaughter-in-law that he did not? What did he suspect of this muggle that he knew not? Before he could ask his questions, demand, or beg for information, she turned to her husband.

“Go the Wizengamot and don’t come back until you bring Sirius Black to Ravenswood.” 

Ragnok’s and Arcturus’s jaws dropped. Equal in their shock, equal in their powerlessness amongst the High Priestess as she continued her orders. 

“I will go to Ravenswood at once to meet with—” She paused, glancing about the room, before asking tentatively, “What is Sirius’s wife’s name?”

“Sofia…Black,” he said haltingly, the name still new, “nee Aetos.” Her maiden name came to him courtesy of the tapestry and it simultaneously encouraged and unsettled him. Encouraged, as he could now research her family; unsettled, as it spoke to the deeply magical marriage she held as to allow the tapestry knowledge of _her._

And who exactly was she?

“Aetos?” The High Priestess laughed sharply. “What wit!”

She stood abruptly and several guards shifted their positions. “I’ll need access to Ravenswood, Lord Black, and then you and my husband must be off. I see a long day for you, but…” She pursed her lips and her eyes went out of focus. “I suspect, successful.”

He glanced at Ragnok, who shrugged inelegantly behind his wife’s back before motioning for guards. He sighed heavily, hoping that at least Sofia saw this occurrence. 

After thirty minutes, the High Priestess and a small contingent of guards were comfortably ensconced in Ravenswood, and Arcturus and Ragnok, along with his own guards, were walking down the Atrium to make their grand entrance to the emergency Wizengamot session. Sofia had laughed when she sent them off, calling out cheerfully, “Someone should take a picture of old Dumbledore’s face when you arrive.” 

He didn’t. But he did pay particular attention to him and, indeed, it was rather amusing to see the mixture of shock, confusion, and…was that a hint of fear he detected? He raised an eyebrow imperviously at the man, hauntingly questioning him without a word— _So, what is your part in this scheme old man?_

As the session went on, the list of culprits and accomplices got longer.

He had begun to fear that maybe Sofia and the High Priestess were wrong, that they wouldn’t be successful…but, near midnight, his grandson was in his arms, a pale, weak skeleton of the man he knew, but here. 

Arcturus deposited him gently in the Heir Suite and Andromeda tended to him with tears in her eyes. 

Sirius groaned pitifully before realizing where he was, what was happening. He turned his gaze to his grandfather, his eyes hazy and lucid in equal terms.

“Harry,” he croaked.

Arcturus nodded, gripping Sirius’s hand. “He’s here, son; he’s safe.” 

Sirius choked down a sob, tears of relief in his eyes. “Gran—grandfather, my—” Sirius winced, whether out of pain or fear, Arcturus didn’t know. “I’m married,” he started haltingly, “She’s pregnant. You—she—find her. Don’t hurt her—I know, the family—”

Arcturus sighed heavily at Sirius’s fear. Of course, he didn’t think his strange muggle wife would be welcome here—he wished he could lay all the blame on Walburga but he knew better.

“She’s here too, Sirius,” he said softly. 

Sirius jerked sharply and let out a groan of pain followed by a disappointing reprimand from Andromeda. 

“Would you like to see her?”

He nodded and Sofia swept into the room, Leo in her arms—she had obviously just been waiting for the signal. Sirius gasped at the sight of the baby. Sofia took over Arcturus’s side of the bed, sitting gingerly on the edge, angling Leo so Sirius could see him better. 

“Gryffindor,” she said fondly, “which I know is important to you but I think Hufflepuff would suit him better.”

Sirius laughed, a sharp painful sound. “Harry?”

“Gryffindor also,” she shifted Leo in her hold so she can hold Sirius’s hand gently. “Following his dads, of course.”

Tears welled in Sirius’s eyes before they turned dark and angry. Sofia squeezed his hand. 

“You’re going to make me ask?” Sirius said angrily.

Sofia smiled sadly. “It’ll make you feel better.” 

Sirius growled. “James. Lily. How—how did you not see that? Did you—you…you wouldn’t but…”

“Fate blocked it from me,” she said quietly, “It’s happened a few times in the past, where Fate will block my sight—I didn’t realize at the time because,” she sighed heavily, “well, you, my love. I saw ten, fifteen years into our future but never the next moment, it was exciting to me, it was new, it seemed a sign that you were destined to be mine. And I didn’t realize until after… that…it wasn’t you. It was James and Lily that were blocking my sight. It never occurred to me that I wasn’t seeing them in our far-flung future.” She squeezed his hand again. “It’s not your fault, my love. And while I would gladly take blame…it’s not mine either. Fate had plans that she didn’t want changed by me. It is a curse and a burden.”

“Fate’s a bitch,” he said gruffly. 

Sofia laughed, a light tinkling sound. “She wears that moniker proudly, dear.”

Sirius squeezed his eyes shut. “You see so much, it…”

Sofia squeezed his hand. “I’m not infallible,” she said softly, “Usually, typically I don’t even use my gifts to change the future—it…seemed impossible before I met you.”

Sirius’s eyes popped open. “You’ve used your Sight, then?”

She grinned impishly. “Well, I did need my husband back and I’m in Ravenswood, aren’t I?” Sirius chuckled before wincing in pain. Sofia tutted in a soft reprimand. “Stay still and rest, love. Leo and Harry are safe. I promise not to let them out of my sight—both of them.” 

Sirius gripped her hand tightly. “I love you.” 

Sofia smiled brilliantly. “I love you too.”

Arcturus, who had stayed off to the side, gasped quietly. There was a brilliance about her…a light…an aura, he would have said, that shocked him. Who was his new granddaughter-in-law?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M BACK. Mostly.
> 
> So...2020 is the worst. Like yourself, most likely, I've been going through a lot. Including quitting my job. I'm lucky and privileged enough to be able to quit at time like this. Honestly, the job was draining my soul. 
> 
> Instead, with my new free time, I'm actually going to pursue a life long dream of mine and write and publish a book. And of course, more prevalent to y'all, write and finish both TBB2 and this story! 
> 
> So yay! Thanks for patience and comments <3

**Author's Note:**

> I'm having the most awful writer's block with The Black Book 2 so when this wild idea demanded to be written, I had to do it. Here's to hoping creativity begets creativity.


End file.
